Stage and screen veteran William Hurt is known and respected for the
versatility and depth which he brings to each character, this time
Dune's Duke Leto, leader of the House Atreides and father to Paul
Atreides.
The Academy Award-winning Hurt was trained at Tufts University and the
Julliard School of Music and Drama. His more than 50 on-stage productions
include: "Henry V, 5th of July," "Hamlet," "Richard II," "Hurlyburly" (for
which he was nominated for a Tony Award), "My Life" (winning a Best Actor
Obie Award), "A Midsummer Night's Dream" and "Good."
Hurt first joined the big screen in 1980 with Altered States. The
Academy awarded Hurt with an Oscar for Best Actor in his stunning
performance in Kiss of the Spider Woman, as well as a BAFTA and
Cannes Film Festival Award for Best Actor. He received Best Actor Academy
Award nominations for Broadcast News and Children of A Lesser
God. Hurt's other film credits are Body Heat, The Big
Chill, Gorky Park, Alice, The Accidental Tourist,
The Doctor, Second Best, Smoke, Jane Eyre,
Michael, Loved, Dark City, The Proposition and
One True Thing.
Like many others on the Dune team, Hurt had a special affinity for
the book and relished the chance to perform the classic, well-crafted tale.
"I think I first read it not long after it came out," Hurt recalled of Frank
Herbert's novel. "And it grabbed me like a book grabs you; sometimes you
just open it up and you can't put it down, and that's the way this was with
me. I was a science fiction junkie for a long time."
John Harrison's script drew Hurt to the project.
"I enjoyed John's adaptation, how he treated the book, which utilizes a
feudal paradigm to illuminate the search for a transcendent figure," Hurt
said. "He's captured Herbert's prophetic reflection of our own age, where
nation-states are competing with the new global economy and its corporate
elements."
